Link belting



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Patented dan. i6, l923 HENRY A. HOUSE, OF BBIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

LNK BELTING.

Application filed April 4, 1922. Serial No. 549,382.

To @ZZ whom t may co2/cem Be it known that l, Herner it. tionen, acitizen of the Unite(L fit tes .d a resident of Bridgeport. county ci'Faireid and State of Connecticut, have invented ce tain new and usefulImprovements in Link Bening, of which the-following is a specification.

This invention relates to llink belt-ing and has for one of its objectsto provide coinposite belt units each consisting oi a stamped metal bodyplate and .pulley engaging member of suitable friction material securedupon one side of the body plate. said body plate being provided withmeans at its opposite ends` whereby the individnal belt units may beeasily and quickly connected to or disconnected from similar adjacentunits.

In one embodiment of the present invention, I provide the body plate of:each com- "posite belt lLink at one of its ends with a spring latchtongue having its tree end pory tion formed for interlocking engagementwith the opposed end ot an adjacent link plate, `the said latch tonguealso having its remaining portion spaced from the surface of the plateto permit of the insertion oil. a nail or other suitable element betweenthe tongue and the plate in order to etect the 3 0 release of the tonguefrom its interlocked position, `whereby the adjacent links can bereadily disconnected.

It is also a further ,general object ci? the invention. to provide aylink belt composed of the `improved composite units. which units may beconstructed in various lengths whereby the belt may be tightened uponthe ypulley surfaces as required, and in which the continuous beltstructure will have the requisite degree of iexibility.

With the` above and other objects in view, the invention consists in theimproved link belting and in the i'orm'7 construction and relativearrangement oit' the several parts of the composite belt units, as willbehereinafter more fully described. illustrated in the accompanying;'drawings and subsequently incorporated in the subjoined claims. y

` In the drawings wherein l have illustrated one satisfactory andpractical embodiment of the invention and inwhich similar referencecharacters designate corresponding-` parts'throughout the several views,

Figure l is a slide elevation of a section of a belt composed of myimproved com posite belt units; i

` unit;

et is a perspective view oi" one of the belt units showing the latchtongue in its released position the link plate provided with anotheritorin of the iiriction member; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation oi a belt unit showing another alternativet'erin et the 'friction member.

ln Patent No. iZO/)flll `granted to me November 21st, i916. there isdisclosed a flexible sheet metal belting, and it is the purpose of mypresent invention to provide certain improvements in the individualunits of a flexible belt of that character. To this end l propose toconstruct such a belt :trom a-series of composite units1 and in theillustrated embodiment of the invention l have shown each unit asconsisting oit a metal body plate and a member 6 of friction materialpermanently and securely fixed to one side of the body plate by means ofrivets 7 or other equivalent fastening devices. rlhe contacting;surfaces of th metal body plates and the friction members are of'substantially the same area and said members may consist et re -elythick sections oi cork in which Form tney are rep resented in i oi thedrawings.

The body plate 5 of each belt unit is provided at its opposite endsAwith means it'or flexibly and detachably interlocking said plate withthe body plates of similar adjacent belt units. This connecting` meansin its primary Afeatures corresponds to that disclosed in my priorpatent above referred to. In other words, each plate 5 provided at oneof its ends with an angularly disposed TCI 'retaining' lip 8 extendingpacross the entire width of the plate and forming an acute i angle withrelation to the body ctsaid plate. 4flit its opposite end the plate 5 isalso angularly bent across its entire width and the edge vportionthereof is formed with a reverse bend and extends towards the plate 5 tothereby provide a bearing 9. said bearingl and the retainingT lip 8projecting from the same side of the plate 5 namely. the opposite sideot said plate to that upon which the friction member 6 is secured. rlhebearadapted to rock upon the seat `11 formed at the juncture of theinner side face of the lip 8 with the surface of the plate 5.

The plate 5 of each belt unit is in the form of metal stamping and is'centrally provided with a longitudinally extending latch tongue '19.This tongue at one of its ends is integral with the body of the plate 5adjacent to the bearing 9 and gradually tapers in width to a point inspaced relation lov the lip 8 where said tongue is formed with a bend'or curve 13. At. the end of this curved section the latch tongueterminates in a bill la having substantially the same curvature as thebearing 9 on the opposite endfof the plate. llorinally, this terminal.

f bill'of the latch tongue is ijiositione-:l slightly beyondv the edgeof the lip 8 and overhangs said lip. ln assembling the composite beltunits to forni a belt, as each unit is inserted in place a nail or othersuitable implement indicated at 15, is inserted transversely between thebend 13 of the latch tongue and the surfacev of the plate 5 to force theterminal bill 1d of the tongue outwardly away from the lip 8. Thus, inconnecting adjacent links the end of the lip 8 may be readily insertedin the groove or channel of the Abearing 9 of another composite link andmoved transversely until the side edges of the links are in alignmentwith each other. The bearing 9 on each belt unit is centrally providedwith a slotor opening 16 so that when the nail or imple-ment lo iswithdrawn the latch tongue 12 will ret-urn to its normal position andthe terminal bill lll thereof will snap into the opening 1G and thusinterlock the belt units in connected relation. Free relative flexingmovement of these belt units is permitted owing to theyrocking contactof the edge of the bearing 9 upon the inner side of the lip 8, it beingunderstood that the opening 16 is of somewhat greater length than thelength of the terminal. bill 'la so as to permit thev latch tongue tomove freely with the belt units in suoli relative Hexing movement of thelinks without possibly lspringingthe latch tongue outwardly to such.

an extent that the adjacent belt units would shift transversely relativeto each other.

By reason of the composite belt unit con# struction above described, acontinuous belt of any desired length may be readily pro. duced, thefriction members 6 contacting with the surfaces of the pulleys insuringa i non-slipping engagement of the belt with said pulleys and a positivetransmission of driving power from one pulley to anothen` It will beunderstood that the individual "composite links can be made in various`lengths so that .when required along link may be "readily removed'andreplaced by a shorter link to take up slackv and tighten may be readilybuilt up to any desired thickineens-4i the belt, or, contrariwise, ashort link may be replaced by a long link when it isdesired to extendthe length of the belt.

ln Figure 3 of the drawings7 instead of providing each of the compositebelt units with a friction member 6 of cork, as in 1Figure 1, l show aIrelatively tain section or layer of leather 6 and in lfigure el l haveillustrated a form of frictioninemberat 6a which is made up of aplurality of layers or laminat-ione of leather or other compositionfriction material so that the friction nibcr ness. n v f ln Figure 5 lhave shown the friction member as consisting of a layer or sheet ofrubber@b having a corrugated pulley contacting surface 6"'.

e ln each form of the composite belt unit having the different frictionmembers as above referred to, it will be noted that :the friction membera t one of its ends eXtei'ids substantially to the right end edge of thebody plate having the lip 8 tlieieoii5-irl1ile the bearing f) at theopposite end of the plate projects for a considerable distance `beyondthe corresponding endrof the friction meinber. Thus the ends of thefriction members of adjacent belt units willv be spaced from each otherwhen said units 'arecon'nected and there will be no binding engagementbetween the end faces of the adjacent friction members in the flexingofthe belt.

ln Figures 1 and d of the drawings where the friction members are shownof considerg able thickness, the end as wellasthe.V side faces of 'saidmembers, are beveled or inclined as at 6d so that said endv faces ofadjacent friction members extend in divergent relation to each otherfrom the body plates 5, thus permitting of therequisite degree ofrelative flexing ,movement of vthe adjacent belt units.

From the foregoing description considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings, lthe construction and several advantages of thepresent improvements will be fully ruiderstood. each of the compositefbeltunits initself, constitutes a complete belt section, it beingposite belt units whiclrmight beemployed,

but this .is not to be understood as `iniplying any limitations since 1tisobyions that vsuch friction members of other materials and lt will belseen that Aunnecessary to surface the belt pulleys` with Y equivalentforms might be substituted for those herein described. Likewise thespeciic form of the latch tongue and other structural features of thebelt unit are susceptible of certain structural modifications and itWill, accordingly, be understood that l reserve the privilege ofadopting all such legitimate changes therein may be fairly embodiedWithin the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

l. A composite belt unit comprising a metal plate having a retainingmember at one of its ends and a bearing member at its opposite end, saidbearing and retaining members projecting angularly from the same side ofsaid plate and said retaining member adapted for detachable interlockingengagement in the bearing member of a similar adjacent unit and a pulleyengaging member of frictional material permanently secured upon theopposite side of said plate and extending in one direction to the eX-treme end of the plate having the retaining member thereon andterminating at the opposite end of' said plate substantially at thepoint of juncture or the angularly projecting 'nearing member with thebody of the plate.

2. A belt unit comprising a plate having a retaining member at one or"its ends and a bearing member at its opposite end, said bearing memberadapted to be flexibly interlocked with the retaining member of asimilar adjacent unit, and a spring latch tongue struck from said plateand terminating in means adapted for interlocking engagement. with thebearing member or" an adjacent unit, a part of said latch tongueadjacent to said terminal means being spaced from the surface of saidplate to permit ol the insertion of an implement therebetween wherebythe latch tongue may be sprung from its normal position out ofinterlocking engagement With the bearing member on the adjacent unit topermit of the disconnection of said units.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signedmy name hereunder.

HENRY A. HOUSE.

